beheld the bright bows of colour in the rising spray. Nature herself seems to have rejoiced in her own workmanship; for she has adorned it with the most gorgeous dress of tropical vegetation. The huge giant of the forest, the baobab-groups of palm-trees with their feathery leaves projected on the sky or on the rising vapour-the silvery mohonono, in form like the cedar of Lebanon-the dark motsouri, in form resembling the cypress, and dotted over with scarlet fruit-many other trees, like the great spreading oaks, elms, and chestnuts of England-each in its own way, and all combined together, as if in nature's revelry, helped to decorate the banks of the Zambesi and the Falls of Victoria.

Before leaving the subject, it deserves remark that the chasm which receives the Zambesi does not seem to have been much changed since its first formation; and the rock, over which the water tumbles into the chasm, has not been worn down, more than two or three feet, by the attrition of the materials which have been drifted over it.

On the 20th of November the generous Chief bad adieu to the party and returned with his attendants to Linyanti. Dr Livingstone and his 114 companions then left the Zambesi, and struck northwards into the hilly country of the Batoka. Their whole journey to Teté-the nearest Portuguese town-may be divided into three periods: 1st, Their journey from Kalai till they again touched on the left bank of the Zambesi. 2ndly, Their course along the left bank, till they were enabled to cross the great river. 3rdly, Their journey from the right bank of the river, till they reached Teté, when their perils were over. The first period employed them about six weeks.

In their way through the Batoka country they saw many rude proofs of the ferocity of the old inhabitants, who were in truth a set of brutal savages. Their subjection and partial extermination by Sebituane is considered by Livingstone,

the right bank to the left. From the left bank the great fissure appears to continue its course through the eastern hills, for thirty or forty miles. What may be the phenomena below the Victoria Falls (such is the name given to them by their discoverer; for Sebituane had heard, but had not seen them) must at present remain a matter of conjecture. This, however, appears certain-that about thirty or forty miles below the falls, the great river emerges in a comparatively low country, and becomes navigable for canoes (with the possible exception of one or two rapids) down to the head of the Delta; and thence down the many channels by which it makes way to the sea. To examine this part of its course (if possible by help of a Steam Launch-the Ma-Robert-and may God prosper it and its good crew!) will be one of the many objects of the expedition which has now left England.

its

The sudden plunge of the river into the yawning chasm, naturally produces the thundering sounds which are heard from afar. The foaming surface of the water-seen about a hundred feet below the top-has the whiteness of snow; but the rocky bottom of the chasm, to allow the onward passage of such an enormous mass of waters, must be at a vast depth below. A conflict between the boiling waters and the walls of rock, through which they force their way, produces great volumes of spray which rise high above the river, and are then condensed into clouds and drifted before the wind. But the spray is not uniformly diffused above the great fissure; for in some places it is so much condensed as to put on the look of great jets or columns, among which the sun-beams play and produce glorious circles of prismatic light.

The eye of civilized man had never viewed this scene before it was beheld by Livingstone. Some of the Natives were struck with awe at the sight; and three Batoka chiefs offered prayers and sacrifices to the Barimo, at three different spots; while they listened to the roar of the waters, and

flocks of water-fowl, which darkened the air; and they at length reached its left bank at the beginning of the year (1856).

In the hills and fine uplands through which they had passed, the baobab lifted its huge limbs into the air, and they saw many other trees, with which they had become familiar in Loanda. Their senses were also greeted by beautiful fruit-trees, which gave them healthy and refreshing food. Many of these trees are probably of new species. Once for all (including some that were seen on the south bank of the Zambesi), I may mention the fruit-trees our Author most frequently alludes to. The moshuka with its apples tasting like a pear, and "found in prodigious quantities as they went along." The manéko producing a curious fruit with a horny rind; the interior filled with glutinous juice and sweet like sugar. The masuka in some places covers the ground and yields a pleasant fruit, which gave them a constant supply of food: and the molondo, a smaller allied species, had a delicious fruit. The mokoronga, a forest-tree producing a dark plum, with purple juice, which is eagerly devoured by the elephants, and by the Natives who call it "pure fat." It is at once wholesome and delicious. The Author also found, on the north bank of the Zambesi, mangotrees and tamarinds in abundance. The fruit is collected for the Chiefs; but the trees are not propagated or cultivated. He saw also the motondo, resembling a tamarind. It is a useful timber-tree, and yields a good fruit as large as a walnut. He also mentions a species of gigantic fig-tree: but I must leave this subject-a glorious one for the botanists of the new expedition.

The soil among the glades and lawns of the delicious uplands is spangled with flowers. Among them he describes the zebra-hoof-a flower as white as the snow-drop, which droops and dies day by day in the sun, and is renewed by a fresh crop of blossoms every morning. The ground seems quite alive with the stridulous piercing notes of crickets and

grasshoppers. The air hums joyfully with the sound of insects on the wing, and among them the wailing note of the musquito is not heard. Nor are the birds less vocal. The cheerful chirp of the honey-guide was heard on all sides; and during their long journey it was often followed by the Makololo (comprehending under this word all the Africans of the party), and seldom led them wrong. Every evening and morning the birds of the forest joined in full chorus, and some of them had fine loud notes. One of them, called by the Natives Mokwa-reza ("the son-in-law of God"), cries pula, pula (or rain, rain), a note of good omen. The croaking of the crow is of bad omen; for "it is supposed (as our Author tells us) to seal up the windows of heaven."

Again (when describing the country on the south bank of the Zambesi) he tells us that the birds are not generally wanting in the power of song: "the chorus or body of song is not much less in volume than it is in England; but it is not so harmonious, and it sounded as if the birds were singing in a foreign tongue." It is not that the African birds are wanting in song, "but that they have lacked poets to sing their praises ;" and there are, he adds, comparatively few with gaudy plumage, like the birds of Brazil. "The majority of them have a sober dress."

But what most of all delighted his companions was the fertility of the soil, and the abundance of large game. Elephants, zebras, gnus, buffaloes and antelopes, swarmed among some of the glades which they passed through; and droves of red pigs (the Potamocharus) were seen near the mouth of the Kafue. The habits of the animals-the way in which the different herds went under the guidance of a prudent leader-the fierce charge of the buffalo, sometimes seen with its guardian birds (Textor erythrorhynchus) sitting on its withers, which like true sharp-sighted guardians are ready to sound the alarm, while the dull-sighted beast is feeding -the clumsy gestures and sports of the elephants; their

diminished size in these latitudes, and their enormous tusksthe spear-hunts of the Makololo, and their songs of triumph when a huge beast is down-all these things passed in review before Dr Livingstone. Again and again he wished for some photographic power to fix in true stature and proportion these aspects of a grand and untamed nature. At their resting-places, during night, they often heard the roaring of the lion: but they did not fear him; for he is a cowardly brute, and had plenty of timid animals to prey upon in the woodlands round about. Before turning to another subject, I may remark that the lordly giraffe and the ostrich are wanting in the fauna north of the Zambesi, and have not so much as a name in the language of the people. The white rhinoceros has also disappeared from that region; and the double-horned black species has become very rare. South of the Zambesi the black species is more common, and (like the buffalo) may be seen with its attendant guardbird (Buphaga Africana). Before they reached the Zambesi they saw a female elephant followed by three calves: and again (as in the Barotse valley) the female hippopotamus was seen swimming in the waters with her young crouching between her ears, or resting on her withers.

While describing the country as a tropical paradise, we must not forget the people. The Batoka are thinly scattered; and the allied tribes, between them and the Kafue, are in a low grade of civilization. But the poor people are hospitable in their own way, and did their best to help the travellers. Their provisions are abundant; for the soil is most grateful, and the climate is such as to secure a good return for what is sown in it. The whole country abounds in monstrous ant-hills (like those seen the year before)— often fifty feet in diameter and now and then twenty feet high-which supply the best garden ground in the country; and there the Natives plant their maize, pumpkins and tobacco.